GOP lawmakers were unsuccessful in their last-minute attempt to revive legislation to ease gun restrictions.

Despite the optimism of gun-rights lawmakers at the start of the year, no handgun-related legislation re-emerged as the 2018 legislative wound to a close Wednesday night — an unusual occurrence for the Republican-dominated Indiana General Assembly.

On the same day students across the country participated in a walk out in honor of the 17 students killed in the Parkland, Fla., shooting, lawmakers in both chambers attempted to come to a consensus on firearm legislation, but were unable to.

The draft from Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, proposed removing the fee for handgun carry permits and allowing people to carry handguns onto church grounds that had schools on their property.

Lawmakers were mainly concerned about the loss of revenue from the eradication of the permit fee. Others, however, were skeptical about doing anything that appeared to loosen handgun restrictions in the aftermath of the school shootings.

"With any sort of firearms, there’s always something with the optics, how it looks," Smaltz said. "But I’m only talking about the law-abiding people. I'm not talking about the bad guys."

Last year lawmakers passed legislation that allowed victims of domestic violence to carry a firearm without a handgun permit, which opponents saw as a dangerous measure that expanded firearm access.

At the start of session, some Republican lawmakers introduced legislation that would have completely eliminated Indiana's handgun carry permit requirement. That provision was watered down, keeping the permit requirement but removing the $125 fee for a lifetime carry permit.

A version of that measure passed in the House but was never called for a vote in the Senate Appropriations committee, in the wake of the Parkland, Fla shooting.

Another bill that would have expanded the places Hoosiers could carry guns to include churches with schools on their property was also never called for amendments in the House before the deadline.

On Monday some lawmakers attempted to strip an unrelated CBD bill in conference committee and add language removing the permitting fee and enabling people to bring firearms to churches with schools on their property.

Lawmakers on the committee couldn't come to an agreement on the final language of the bill by the time session ended Wednesday night.